August 19, 2016

Every now and then an entrepreneur describes the current state of technology in a way that captures the marketplace in one impactful comment. That's what happened when a professor of genetics told the MIT Technology Review that an organization must be willing to spend money to get good data. "It takes a lot of labor and capital to get ... information in a form that is useful."

Against this norm came a company called 23andMe which offered a genetic analysis for just $199. Consumers grabbed the opportunity with both hands. The company has seen a phenomenal rise since, because anyone can order a kit by mail, provide a saliva sample, mail it back, and in a relatively short time receive an impressive genetic analysis. By that I mean a review of 650,000 genetic markers. The review allows scientists to detect common versions of each of the 20,000 genes a human being possesses.

This month the Oculus Rift headset went on sale at 48 Best Buy stores across America. The price - approximately US$ 600 - suggest that virtual reality headsets have a market that is well beyond teenagers using the technology for video games. Healthcare delivery, too, is at the cusp of being transformed by this technology. I believe that amazing synergies await doctors and their patients when making important diagnoses remotely with the help of virtual reality.

Dr. Abraham Nussbaum, the Chief Education Officer at Denver Health, in his new book The Finest Traditions of My Calling, is critical of the modern-day practices of his colleagues. "The patient," writes Dr. Nussbaum, "becomes a case report, a billing code, a quality metric", and doctors spend "checkup(s) gazing into a computer screen". Is there any wonder, then, that doctors, who feel burned out by seeing patient after patient in their examination rooms, will welcome the new paradigm that virtual reality will create when it comes to healthcare?

October 22, 2015

The US healthcare landscape today is quite fragmented. As a result, care delivery too is fragmented. What does this mean? If one patient has varying needs arising from one medical condition, each need will more likely be addressed in siloes by specialists. Many times, it's not because physicians want to work this way. It's because they do not have access to that one source that has all the information needed for a comprehensive picture of the patient. Even physicians who have access to this data through Electronic Health Records (EHRs) may not have access to the infrastructure necessary to transfer it to another physician who needs it. Little wonder then that close to 95% of America's healthcare providers state that one of the biggest obstacles to becoming interoperable is their limited ability to share data with each other - a factor that can create big lacunae in a patient's treatment.

This system of healthcare delivery that has prevailed until now is not a sustainable model, with a growing population, especially of Americans above the age of 65, who has increased by 15% in the last decade - and who require healthcare treatments and effective medicines for more ailments as they grow older. Adding to the demand for a more effective approach to reduce fragmentation is the renewed patient-centric focus. One emerging healthcare model that I believe encompasses features to support these needs and can become the future of the healthcare industry is Connected Care, which facilitates a more seamless connection among patients, healthcare providers and payers with a single focus - addressing the overall healthcare needs of the patient.

There was once a popular trend in the American presidential politics known as the Flat Tax. The idea was that the country's tax system had become so complicated that some of the candidates proposed one, flat tax for every taxpayer. Come tax time, the payer could fill out her taxes on a simple index card and mail it back to Washington. No accountants, no multiple tax forms, no bureaucracy.

That idea never took hold. In the tax system, that is. But the idea of universal healthcare more recently seeks to do for insurance what the Flat Tax would have done for taxation: Create a simple way to obtain and pay for universal healthcare coverage. That's a huge job, and it's easier said than done. But America has made its first bold steps towards a universal system that European and other major countries have enjoyed for decades.

December 18, 2014

Eric Paternoster, President & CEO, Infosys Public Services, discusses a platform-based approach to IT that helps healthcare organizations shift focus back to their core business

Up until recently, health insurers in the US had little motivation to transform themselves into high-tech organizations. The age-old business model and legacy technology systems, though out-of-sync with the requirements of today's dynamic healthcare environment, have continued unchallenged for several years with little or no reason to change. Yet a recent market phenomenon is now influencing key changes: the rise of digitally savvy consumers. Did you know, that more than 95 million consumers use mobile devices to access health information and tools? And that 40 percent of them visit one or more websites to research new health insurance plans?

Indeed, health insurers are being nudged out of their comfort zone. Business-as-usual approach by consumers, who are looking for competitive offerings, expect to be better engaged and are looking for superior customer service. Our survey reveals that six out of 10 healthcare insurance consumers feel that they do not fully understand their coverage and eligibility, and they expect better assistance and information in order make right choices when it comes to selecting plans. What has long been a 'group-centric' business model in the health insurance industry, especially in the United States, is fast turning into a 'consumer-centric' one, thanks to digital. The entire healthcare realm is benefiting from this digital transformation and from the rise of consumerization.

February 3, 2014

Are you a team player? Most of us would like to think we are. That's good news because of the way organizations are assessing the very nature of success.

The coolest viewpoint on this topic is articulated by the Wharton management professor Adam Grant . He says that success used to commonly be a collection of individual achievement. But that's going to change as companies increasingly look at how your accomplishments affect your colleagues. It seems we're all in this together after all! For example, ask yourself what kind of impact you will have simply beyond your core job description. Grant challenges us to think about three types of interactions we have with teammates, The way you interact with colleagues can often say as much about you as does your training, experience, and education.

For starters, there's the "taker." A taker tends to think about getting as much out of teammates as possible. In a bygone era, takers could be tolerated because there was enough work that could be performed in a non-collaborative manner. But today, in the era of innovation, teamwork is essential to generating good ideas. Takers can easily suck the oxygen out of a brainstorming session.

January 8, 2014

Designing for the Internet of Things: Rodolphe el-Khoury at TEDxToronto[Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcUvg9jcfG8]

The Internet of Things: Talk about a broad topic! Just what do technologists mean when they refer to a "thing"? Whatever the subtleties involved in defining it, one aspect of the Internet of Things is that it will be a transformative force in our society.

How we get there is another story. So what we need to start out with is sensors. For anything to be connected remotely to the Internet and to smash the old paradigm of a cable-dominated world, we have to have sensors that not only work well but can work with just about any device.

December 30, 2013

Can you speak Esperanto?[Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjB0v87oMD8]

Remember Esperanto? Several decades ago, an assortment of academics and linguists invented a language that would become (they hoped) the world's common language.

It was a flop. But I must say that the intentions behind Esperanto were admirable. If people involved in international business all spoke the same language, wouldn't it be great? Being able to communicate effortlessly across regions and markets would be immensely useful. Well, yes and no. Some other research out of academia finds that enterprises that embrace other cultures, languages, and ways of doing business are at an advantage. You might think that in the age of globalization, these findings would be obvious. But drill down a bit deeper and the reality is that many organizations expand into other countries without giving those new regions and markets much thought.

Such companies would do well to spend a lot of time analyzing how best to adapt to new markets. Any organization can expand by opening new offices overseas. But the successful ones approach each market differently. Of the many things that make me proud to be an Infoscion, is our ability to be very aware of whatever market we enter. Our company's success continues to be predicated in part on our knack for "speaking global."

One of my favorite stories about fast food innovation dates back some 35 years ago. That's when the manager of a McDonald's started putting a poached egg, a slice of cheese, and Canadian bacon in between two toaster muffins and selling it as the Egg McMuffin. That one breakfast sandwich allowed him to extend his franchise's hours. But it did something else: It gathered the attention of the company's top brass. Although McDonald's was and is a massive corporation, it organized itself so that an innovation could come from anywhere - even off the grille of a store manager in some obscure small town.

Today we're seeing a variation on this theme and it's all thanks to the rise of the digital consumer. In certain cases, customers around the world are becoming as powerful as R&D squads at major enterprises. Consider what's brewing at Starbucks. There are reports that the latest fad - adding a bit of fizz to their traditional hot and iced coffees - is something the corporate chiefs at Starbucks are watching with intense interest. Rather than discourage the practice, the company is quietly telling its Baristas to give in to the growing numbers of orders for carbonized drinks. Starbucks could have easily squashed the fizz movement. But maybe an upstart competitor, looking to find a new market and disrupt an established player, would have jumped on the carbonation bandwagon. Its first-mover advantage could have knocked the wind out of Starbucks' sails (and, more importantly, sales).

August 28, 2013

Getting there is half the fun, right? Maybe. If you work in a congested city in the Americas, Europe, or Asia, then you probably shudder at the thought of having to hail a taxi in the middle of the day in order to get across town for an important meeting. Think about it: There's nothing efficient about a taxi ride. In New York City, for example, the daytime shift ends at 4:00 pm, just as the evening rush hour is beginning. So lots of taxis go off-line just as tens of thousands of commuters need them. Who came up with that timing?

Then there's the whole notion of a cabbie driving around town in search of a fare. Gasoline prices being what they are, it doesn't pay for drivers to spend more than a fraction of their time without someone in the back seat. Add to this business model the fact that most cities require you (or your company) to buy a license to chauffeur people around, and your margins become razor-thin indeed.This age-old business model seems to be at the end of its lifespan, however. You can't say it didn't have its day in the sun: even the ancient Romans had a taxi system not unlike what our cities have today.

Why is there an inverse correlation between the amount of time and money a municipality spends on creating an "innovation hub" and the actual innovation that comes out of it? I have my own theories.

Among the first things we learned in Economics 101 was Adam Smith's faith in the market's "invisible hand." In some ways, Smith's perspective mirrors what I've come to learn about entities that try to replicate Silicon Valley in their own backyards. They never can seem to find the right formula, despite support from the smartest academics and think tanks on the planet. Maybe they're trying too hard. Maybe they should allow a kind of invisible hand of innovation to take over.

June 27, 2013

No Noise at Selfridges [Source:Selfridges http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_BHskOcY7k]

The man who changed the face of shopping, Harry Gordon Selfridge, lived more than a century ago. His department store in London, with its dazzling window displays and helpful sales associates, made shopping - for the first time in history - less chore and more fun. His store continues to be a beloved part of the British retail scene.

There was another side to the American-born Selfridge. He is also known as a bit of a management guru. Thanks to the books he wrote about leadership and the history of the retail industry, we can continue to enjoy his wit and wisdom. Make no mistake: Selfridge's ideas are timeless and just as relevant today as they were in the early 20th century.

June 11, 2013

The beanbag and the red-felt billiard table - are two items that so embodied what it meant to be a hip dot-com start-up in the late 1990s. These two objects told the world that one's dot-com was all about tearing down the antiquated bricks-and-mortar business model. It also conveyed the distinct possibility that one was about to have an IPO that could potentially transform the entrepreneur and his dot-com buddies into multimillionaires. (at least on paper for a few weeks).

I'm kidding about the trappings for the most part, but not about chasing the element of cool and how that can often be a costly and futile activity. Simply being perceived as cool in the marketplace can have a low correlation to a firm's actual financial performance. Indeed, when it comes to a company's cool factor, bold, decisive actions in the marketplace tend to speak louder than the presence of beanbags in the reception area. Instead of focusing on long-term core values - to stakeholders, there's nothing cooler than that - companies sometimes get into the habit of chasing cool. When you chase something, you can place too much time and energy on differentiation for the sake of differentiation. Gains from such efforts can be fleeting.

April 29, 2013

The Infosys Foundation recently had the pleasure of recognizing two Google Fellows for their accomplishments, much of which laid the groundwork for what we know today as cloud computing. Our company and its charitable foundation are always looking to foster education and innovation wherever it might be.

March 8, 2013

"Now don't get me wrong. I like innovation; just not too much of it." That's what I imagine I would hear if I were a fly on the wall of certain corporate headquarters these days. Large companies that once zealously guarded their technological innovations are now opening the floodgates of access to such technology. Yet, they're grappling with just how wide they should throw open those floodgates. Indeed, it's a delicate balance: If there's too little innovation on the part of your collaborators, you're pretty much out the game. But if they take what you gave them and innovate too much, they stand to take control of the very technology you once called your own.

OK, I know what you're thinking: Who cares what an important technology executive thinks of Cirque Du Soleil or the Blue Man Group? So let me clarify what I mean by the term "Las Vegas show." I'm referring to the Consumer Electronics Show.

We're lucky to have Oliver Bussmann, the chief Information Officer of SAP, as a very prescient guide. I recently watched a great clip of Bussmann taking viewers across the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show, which is always one of the hottest tickets in Las Vegas. SAP is a company with which we at Infosys have worked closely for years. So it's fun to see one of our partners in innovation tell the world what he thinks are the most promising trends to watch in 2013.

December 26, 2012

For transformation partner-client relationships to deliver on the enterprise-transformation agenda, beyond trust and proven skills, there needs to be a strong foundation of alignment and synergies around what the measures of success and business value are. But above all, there needs to be a shared vision of how the partnership will help the client enterprise prepare for tomorrow. This view is reaffirmed, every time a client trusts a vendor partner to join force through their next business mission. To me, that is the recognition of a vendor's true perceived partner-value born from their ability to help the client enterprise achieve their business goals through innovation, operational efficiency and winning market moves.

September 19, 2012

When it comes to sharing personal information with retailers, consumers are behaving a little wary - even testy -- of late. Let me share a story with you. A friend of mine received a $10 gift card from Starbucks as a reward for filling out a marketing survey. When the card arrived, a sticker urged him to register the card online in order to receive an additional gift of a free drink on his birthday. Since his birthday was only a few days away, he decided to take advantage of the offer. When he clicked through a few screens, he saw he had to fill out so many required fields - read, give up so much data - that he realized it was not worth another grande latte.

May 28, 2012

Like most men I know, I always feel uncomfortable selecting
greeting cards for my wife - birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines, Mother's
Day, you get the idea. Although I
consider myself a sensitive, emotionally centered and caring male, I always
feel inadequate standing in the aisle picking through cards written by lovelorn
poets who are apparently paid by the word.
I cringe when I observe the woman
beside me carefully consider each word, nod at some deeper meaning and then wipe
away tears of approval. Men are from
Mars....